


the boy in the rose maze

by nightcircus



Category: TOMORROW X TOGETHER | TXT (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, Boys In Love, Choi Soobin-Centric, Falling In Love, Fantasy, Kang Taehyun Needs A Hug, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pining, Prince Choi Soobin, Prince Kang Taehyun, Royal Balls, Royalty, Shy Choi Soobin, Soft Choi Soobin, Time Skips, fairytale, mention of fantasy elements, no other members, taebin only
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-08-18
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:34:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25965196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightcircus/pseuds/nightcircus
Summary: kang family’s royal balls were always well known in every kingdom.for generations, once a month, all the kingdoms were invited to this amazing event to spend a delightful night full of luxury and dance. [...]soobin never was a party kind of prince, as a matter of fact he hated those kind of events, he hated being the center of attention, he just wanted to go home.but what happens when you hear the most beautiful melody and you can’t help but follow it?orsoobin tried to escape from his royal duties and met the cutest boy he has ever seen, sitting in a rose maze.
Relationships: Choi Soobin & Kang Taehyun, Choi Soobin/Kang Taehyun
Comments: 8
Kudos: 91





	the boy in the rose maze

**Author's Note:**

> hello! hope you enjoyed this.  
> little notes: english is not my first language and i have no beta reader so i'm sorry for every possible typos you could find while reading.  
> enjoy my little taebin royal au!

“ _Your highness_ _, are you ready to leave?”_

“ _I’ll be in a moment, tell my father I’ll be downstairs in five minutes.”_

“ _Of course, my_ _prince_ _.”_

Soobin allowed himself to let out a sigh as soon as he was left alone, checking himself out in the huge gold mirror hanging on the wall.  _“I do look like a prince”_ he whispered to himself, staring at that strange figure reflected in the glass. Not that he wasn’t, he was a prince.

His father was King of a small kingdom, not military nor politically relevant but famous for his wonderful woods and landscapes,  intriguing for tourists to visit. He was the last of three siblings, his older brother already chosen as heir while his older sister had recently married a duke, or count, or maybe a baron, he couldn’t remember. His fate? Completely unknown.

His parents were worried for him, he knew that and they wanted him to find someone to get married with:  _“Honey, if you want to get married when you fall in love that’s absolutely fine, it’s your life.”_ his mother, the Queen always said. Soobin knew his father wasn’t that fine with the idea of him waiting more, but he loved his wife to much to go against her will. To avoid disappointing both, he agreed to attend various royal balls in order to find a “ proper match ” as they always repeated him.

And when it came to royal balls, no one was better than Kang’s family.

The Kang were the rulers of a nearby kingdom, not a very large one but for generations they had been famous for their spectacular royal balls. Once a month, those balls were an excellent chance for many young royals to find a match, or even love: the elegant atmosphere, the music always so relaxing were legendary and many royals from many different kingdoms came all the way just to enjoy their delightful parties. But that was not the only thing this family was famous for.

There were legends, stories regarding their second-born child and the only male heir they had: there  was no information, no news, nothing could be found about this boy except for a few things. His name was Taeyhun, he was born in 2002 and he never showed himself in public, not even during the dances.

Soobin wondered every time if he was going to be there, if that ball would have been different than the others. As he reached for his father downstairs, like every month his head was full of questions and curiosity about this mysterious and faceless prince. What could be so important for a boy almost his age to force him to hide from everybody? 

He couldn’t stand it anymore. The loud music, all those people chatting loudly and laughing in the fakest way possible about every kind of stupid royal duty, that was too overwhelming for him.

“ _I heard they have a very pretty garden, deary. A rose maze,_ _too_ _!”_ a lady was chatting next to him, maybe trying to introduce him to his daughter next to her _“_ _I heard a rumor_ _that no one can reach the center but there’s a_ _kind of_ _statue in the middle. No one has ever seen it though, who_ _would ever_ _want to miss all of this for a piece of stone?”._

Great Lord , all of that was too irritating: he could see many princesses and princes looking at him, waiting for him to ask for a dance but he was less than interested in that. 

He needed some fresh hair. 

  
“ _God, I’ve been here for a couple of hours and I already want to leave.”_ he complained as he walked across the huge garden of the royal palace.

There was green everywhere, hidden despite the several lanterns on the grass and Soobin felt like he was walking right into a dream. As he was walking, he was sure he could hear a piano.

“ _A piano? By night? With a ball going on?”_ he questioned as he tried his best to follow the gracious melody, coming very likely from a breathtaking rose maze.

The prince was hesitant at first about stepping inside, but when a voice started singing, he simply couldn’t resist. Like the voice was calling for him he followed it, like a whisper, on and on, further inside the maze. The green walls painted with floral red dots created many complex routes but somehow he didn’t seem to notice. 

When he reached the center he saw the most curious thing ever. 

Inside the rose maze, there was a boy.

The said boy had the most beautiful features he could have ever seen. His hair were a bit long, brown coloured, and he was dress in a perfect and delicate way that almost made him look like an angel. He was playing a piano, sitting on a trunk with closed eyes as he hummed a song with the softest voice. 

Only when the song was over, he seemed to notice Soobin, flinching a bit.

“ _Who are you?”_ he asked, standing up and bowing gracefully _“Excuse my manner, your Highness. I guess you are a royal, aren’t you? Since there’s the ball tonight.”_

“ _Oh, that’s fine.”_ Soobin replied, stuttering a bit “ _No ‘Your Highness’ or other, you look almost my age..”_ he paused, quietly inviting the other to tell his name.

“ _Terry.”_

“ _Right, Terry. I’m Soobin.”_ the boy smiled, sitting down again and moving aside: 

“ _Would you mind staying a bit, Soobin? Even if you should be inside dancing with some royals?”_ he asked, the taller laughed and joined him gladly.

“ _I humbly accept your offer. I would much rather spend the rest of the night here than going back there, between all those people just chatting about royal duties and marriage and whatever.”_

“ _Is marriage not in your plans, perhaps?”_

“ _It’s not that I don’t want to get married at all, but I want to marry someone I love. They treat marriage like a business and I don’t want to basically buy a wife or a husband, I want to fall in love with that person, I want them to choose me not because I’m a prince but because I’m.. me.”_ he froze on the spot when he realized he had just let escape very delicate feelings from his lips, to a stranger. Terry smiled.

“ _I get how you feel. Aren’t we all just lost souls waiting for true love to come?”_ he quoted, almost if he got out of a novel or a fairytale _“I’m sure you will find someone.”_ he said quietly, playing again, and again brand new melodies. Soobin couldn’t tell how many hours had passed, he only woke up when Terry stopped playing all of a sudden. _“You should go.”_ the mysterious boy whispered, when trumpets announced the end of the ball. 

When they reached the end of the maze, since Soobin didn’t know how to go back, the prince politely smiled to the short angelic figure.  _“Thank you for your help”_ , he stuttered,  a little blush on his cheeks .

“ _No problem. If you want, next month, follow the piano again. I’ll be playing for you once more.”_ and as he said that, the boy left, turning around while his steps faded between green walls and roses.

  
  


“ _You actually came back.”_ Terry didn’t sound that surprised to see him, which made Soobin smile.

“ _You ever doubted me?”_ he asked, laughing and sitting again next to him _“To hear someone play for you in a rose maze is a pretty unique experience, don’t you agree? I would never miss it.”_

Terry looked at him with a little, curious smile: he had a cute dimple, Soobin hadn’t noticed that before.

“ _Have you really waited a whole month just for my piano skills?”_ Soobin didn’t answer and Terry started playing anyway.

The melody was nice and the prince could swear he heard it somewhere else, he didn’t know where or when but the sound was oddly familiar. In the end, the boy stopped playing and he stared at Soobin for a while.

“ _Violet.”_

“ _Pardon?”_

“ _If you were a flower, you would be a violet.”_ he explained, taking a book next to him and opening its pages to reveal hundreds of flower explained, each with his meaning.

Violet: modesty, spiritual wisdom, faithfulness, humility.

A shy smile formed on Soobin’s lips, reciprocated by another shy smile from the boy of the maze.

“ _What about you?”_ the prince asked  _“If you were a flower, which one would you be?”_

Terry waited a bit, and then spoke softly:  _“Astilbe. I always thought I would be this one, since it means_ _patience and dedication. Astilbe's are said to make the statement ‘I will still be waiting’.”_

“ _What are you waiting for?”_ Soobin dare to ask but the trumpets announced again the ball was over.

“ _You’ll find out next month I guess, Your Highness.”_

The following month came, another ball and another meeting.

“ _You dyed your hair purple.”_ it was the first thing Terry noticed, smiling politely _“You look_ _nice_ _.”_ he added, the prince looking away to avoid his gaze.

Since Soobin had found himself thinking about the boy in the rose maze every day both before and after their rendezvous, he realized something was different.

He started noticing a bunch of different things about Terry: he had big round eyes when he was serious or concentrated and he had wrinkles around them when he smiled. He also had a cute dimple, while Soobin had many more, maybe four. Terry was serious but never too serious and most importantly he had this mysterious behaviour Soobin couldn’t really understand.

Everything about Terry was mysterious, after all why would a young boy be stuck in a rose maze at night, playing piano?

“ _Yeah, that’s it. It’s normal to be curious, right?”_ he repeated himself for all the months after that.

Curiosity, that’s all it was in the beginning, that was the reason.

And Soobin was never able to tell, not even to himself at what point he had fallen for Terry.

But he did, **he had fallen for the boy in the rose maze.**

“ _I always thought this place was weird, but this is the weirdest place ever. How can you not freeze in December?”_ Soobin asked in total shock as he walked into the maze, the night of the January ball.

“ _Does your highness still_ _believes_ _this is just some regular maze? I am beyond disappointed.”_ a voice laughed in front of him, making Soobin smile and nod: _“Maybe you’re right.”_ he admitted, reaching for Terry at the center, next to his piano.

Many months had passed, Soobin realised and everything between them was so.. perfect, ethereal, unique, but also very weird. Of course Soobin had asked Terry to come and see his kingdom but the boy was very clear: _“I can’t”_ he had answered _“I’m stuck here and we wouldn’t have enough time anyway.”._

What he exactly meant by that, Soobin never dared to ask.

“ _You have something on your mind.”_ the mysterious pianist asked him, caressing his hair with a sweetness Soobin had never felt before.

“ _Last month it was my birthday.”_

“ _Really? Why haven’t you told me?”_ Terry asked, almost offended.

“ _I had.. many things to worry about, my parents still want me to get married and of course they don’t know I can’t find anyone because I’m spending these nights with you. Another year, same old story.”_

Terry hesitated in answering: _“Would you prefer to be there? At the ball, dancing with some pretty princess or prince?”_ he asked. Soobin made a negative sign with his head.

“ _You alone are worth 10 times that ball.”_ he whispered, putting an hand on Terry’s face.

His eyes went wide, his cheeks maybe for the first time were painted red like the roses around them. _Would it be okay if I kissed you?_ He thought, but as soon as he looked at his lips, the bells rang and the ball was over.

“ _Soobin.”_

“ _Yes?”_

“ _ **Find me at the ball next time.”**_

February ball was special, everyone knew that, wince it was the Prince’s birthday ball, but the prince never showed up before. But that year was a very special year, for the Prince was about to turn 18.

The ball would have been divided in two nights and the guest would have had the privilege to stay in Kang’s Palace. Soobin was thrilled, of course.

The ball room was crowded, princesses and princes waiting for the prince to come out, to reveal himself.

Prince Soobin had too much on this mind for that, he needed to find Terry. _Where are you? Will you come? You asked me to find you, so let me find you._

“ _Ladies and Gentlemen, Mesdames and Messieurs, Princes and Princesses, Kings and Queens from every land near and far. To you, we present for the very first time, our Prince, Kang Taehyun.”_

The voice from up the stair was very clear and Soobin immediately turn around.

**_I found you._ **

Up the stairs, dressed in magnificent blue velvet,  his boy in the rose maze . He was looking for something in the crowd, his eyes going all around the room until their gazes met.

Terry, or Taehyun, descended the stairs as if he was descending from Heaven itself, so pretty Soobin felt mesmerized just by looking at him. Before he could even notice, the crown opened up as Taehyun walked towards him, stopping a couple of steps away from him.

As etiquette requested, Taehyun politely bowed, offering one hand to the prince in front of him. As  the taller bowed back and took his hands, music started and everyone started dancing in couples around them.

“ _Looks like it was you who found me, Prince.”_ Soobin highlighted the honorific, causing Taehyun to chuckle a bit: _“Look I’m sorry, I really am. But I had to wait, I’ll explain everything tonight at 4am in the maze.”_

“ _That’s early. Give me one good reason, why should I come and find you?”_

“ _Because you_ _crave_ _answers, we both know you do.”_ and he was right.

They kept quiet until the end of the song, when they bowed to each other again:

“ _See you later, my_ _v_ _iolet.”_ Taehyun mimicked with his lips, inviting another random partner for the next dance; the ball ended without Soobin noticing and he had to admit Taehyun was a great princed, he was perfectly trained despite his days in the maze. How was that even possible?

That night, Soobin escaped quickly as the clock  struck four in the morning. He ran into the maze, night still young for barely an hour, morning approaching.

As he entered the maze Taehyun was standing there, sitting on the piano.

“ _You came.._ _again._ _”_ he smiled, looking.. relieved? Soobin had never seen that expression before.

“ _You lied, you said you were stuck in the maze.”_

“ _It was not a lie. I am normally stuck in the maze except, by night,_ _I am not_ _. I can walk around my own castle. But listen: I don’t have much time and you won’t believe me, I know you won’t but I need you to listen to me.”_ his tone was so serious, Soobin couldn’t reply.

“ _We have this.. family thing. I don’t know who started it, don’t ask but there is this legend going around about a witch or sorceress cursing my family._ The first male heir can’t live during the day, we’re stuck in this maze and it is said that only true love’s kiss can break the curse, obvious as it may sound, my mom broke my dad’s curse. All this royal balls are made for each of us, hoping to find true love, to meet the one who will eventually save us. I wanted you to come here and witness my curse, I want you to believe me.”

Soobin stared at him dumbfounded.  He couldn’t believe his ears, what kind of madness was that.

“ _Why me? Why would you choose me? There are so many people out there, many royals, why m-”_

“ _Because you were different. You never wanted me because I was a prince, you met_ _Terry but Terry was not the prince.. just_ _Taehyu_ _n._ _Yo_ _u met a weird boy in a maze, playing a melody and you simply followed your heart and came to me.”_ Taehyun explained, almost out of breath, looking at him with eyes full of emotions, for the very first time in months: 

“ _I couldn’t stop thinking about you.”_ he continued  _“I only had once a month to get to know you, I wasn’t expecting anything, those balls are weird anyway but… you came to me, and you let your heart open for me, you came back every single night. And every time you left, a piece of me went away with you, and I waited the following month to get it back but you stole another one, and one more, and more.”._

As the first rays of dawn hit the roses, Taehyun’s body started to look more and more rigid and Soobin was frozen in fear. But Taehyun was calm, and smiled at him: _**“I love you, Soobin.”**_ the words hit Soobin like a sword in the chest _“I_ _don’t know when or how but I fell in love with you, my violet. You gave love a face and a feeling my soul would never forget, even if you run away tonight.”._

Morning was almost there,  the cursed prince was now almost all covered in what appeared to be stone.

Soobin took a step forward, but as soon as he did, the wonderful boy smiled at him, now all made of stone.

_ No, no, no. _

H e remembered the old lady’s words:  _“_ _W_ _ho would ever want to miss all of this for a piece of stone?”._

_I do._

Soobin  walked straight to the smiling statue, taking the now-stoned-boy by his hips and getting close to his face, closing his eyes as he pressed a chaste kiss onto the prince’s cold lips.

He didn’t dare to open his eyes at first, but when he did, he felt heartbroken, as the smiley boy was still covered in rock. With teary eyes, he fell on his knees, crying his heart out:  _“I love you too.. I should have told you when I had the chance, I fell in love with you many months ago but apparently I am not your true love.”_ he cried out, eyes on the grass, not even able to see its details.

“ _I think you are the truest love I could have ever imagined.”_

As his eyes went immediately up to make sure he hadn’t heard wrong, a pair of lips pressed a strong kiss on Soobin’s, cupping his head between  a pair of hands and separating them only when it felt right enough.

“ _You did it, my violet. You won yourself a prince.”_

S oobin started laughing out loud, still crying but now with tears of joy as he pulled the boy down,  laying in the grass together, kissing and hugging and laughing.

“ _I didn’t_ win a prince, I won my boy in the rose maze. And that’s the greatest conquest ever.” 

“ _Your_ _highness_ _, are you ready to leave?”_

“ _I’ll be in a moment, tell_ _my father_ _I’ll be downstairs in five minutes.”_

“ _Of course, my_ _prince_ _.”_

Soobin got dress as soon as he could and ran downstairs, allow ing himself to let out a sigh as soon as he was left alone, checking himself out in the huge gold mirror hanging on the wall. What a deja-vu.  He ran downstairs to his father, who this time welcomed him with the a smile:  _“My son is truly the only prince capable of arriving late even in this kind of occasions.”_ was his only comment.  As he entered through the huge doors, he could see Taehyun smiling at him, eyes full of love and emotions.

“ _Sorry, I’m late. Again.”_

“ _It is out of my understanding, how_ can  someo ne arrive late at his own wedding?  You never fail to surprise me, my violet. ”

T hey both let out a laugh, looking tenderly at each other.

“ _Are you ready, my love?”_

“ _I am, boy in the rose maze.”_

  


_** I do. ** _

**Author's Note:**

> so, hi! hope you enjoyed it since it took me a long time to write it.  
> if u want find me on tumblr : [thenightchapter](https://thenightchapter.tumblr.com/)  
> and twt : [reveursbin](https://twitter.com/reveursbin)  
> stay tuned for other stories!


End file.
